Final PLN 

PLN has been very helpful. It helped me organize websites I used for EDM and other classes I had this semester. I think that I will be able to use this in the classroom because it will help me keep my websites organized as a teacher. 

My PLN 

Blog Post 13

                                                 E-Media Fast 

    This blog post assignment was to not use technology for 24 hours.  I did not think that it would be to hard to give up television or computer for a day, but my cell phone was another story. The first day that I tried I did not use the television, but my phone kept going off so I tried turning it off, this did not work for me. The next day I tried I successfully did not use my iphone or television, but my computer was needed for school work, so there was another fail. Third times a charm you say? Well not for me. Unfortunately I could not successfully complete my third day either. I really do think that this is a good idea to try to do every once in a while. It really makes you think about how much you rely on technology through out your day. 

C4T Summary

During this C4T I was assignment to Anthony Capps and the St. Elmo Explorers. During the time that I was commenting on their blog they wer posting about the different amendments of the US Constitution. Each student picked or was assigned to an amendement and had to summarize what that particular amendment was about.
The first post I commented on was about freedom of speech. The student summarized the amendment and gave an example of how it would be used. The second post was on amendment 6. This student talked about if you can not afford legal council that one will be provided for you from the state. These students did a great job summing up the amendments to the constitution.

Project 15

Additional Blog Assignment

1. I believe that the schools in the United States do inhibit the student's creativity. Schools these days just tend to be worried about book smarts and not creativity; I think that in the classroom there is room for both. Not every child will be a genius, but it does not mean that, that child is less smarter then the genius. Ken Burns believes that there should be a creative side to learning; as do I. I believe that this is happening because teachers are not taught to teach creatively so students do not learn creatively.  I would like to teach in creative ways and to teach students how to be creative.

3. I believe that a curriculum can be changed to increase the creativity of students. This can be done by not doing such a traditional lesson; maybe incorporating some technology in your lessons would help students become more creative. The key component of this curriculum is not being afraid of stepping out side of the box. Teachers are so afraid of being creative I think that they tend to stick to the old traditional ways of teaching instead.

2. I also believe that there can be a curriculum that can increase the curiosity of students. I would say that getting the students excited about something would increase their curiosity. I would use technology, which is something that most kids get curious and excited about to peak their interest. I would try to find some unique things to use in the classroom to peak their interest also.

4. I absolutely believe that a teachers interest in the subject matter increases the interest of students. If the teacher is not excited about teaching something then the students will not be excited about learning it. The teacher needs to be excited and eager to teach the students whatever is in her curriculum.

5. I believe that the teacher can increase the amount of curiosity that the student's have. The teacher can just read directly from the book, or they can act out the chapter that they are learning about. I would say that most of the students would love for their teacher to act out the chapter in their history books instead of reading it directly.  Being a boring teacher will make boring students.

6. What would help me be more creative is having a free space to interact with my students and tell them that it is okay to be creative. I would love to harness their creativity and put it into productive things. As a teacher I would like to showcase each and every talents that my students have and put together a  production to showcase their creativity. I would take every opportunity to display their art work, stories or projects that they worked so hard on. 

7. What would help me become more curious is to explore the internet for some cool new education tools that are available online or in the app store. There are tons of websites/apps out there that would spark my curiosity. I think that schools could provide teachers, that do not already own one, with a computer or an ipad to help spark their curiosity.

Final Project Update

My group is just starting to work on our final project. We have been getting together once a week to discuss how we will be communicating with each other while working on this project.

Blog Post 12

While searching the internet for elementary education teacher tools. I stumbled upon a website that listed media production tools in elementary schools. It had a list of several media tools that we have used in EDM, but one that I had never heard of, Animoto. Animoto is an application that creates videos out of text, images, and video clips. You can choose from Animoto's stock photos and music selections or upload your own. Images are synched to your music choice, so faster soundtracks flash through images more quickly than slower songs.

I would have students make an animoto introducing themselves to the class. The video will be 30 seconds long and will include music and pictures.

http://animoto.com/play/rEkTDkyEWraCv2L3fupkuw- A link to my video

The only downside to this website is that you can only create 30 second videos with the free subscription; if you wanted longer videos then you would have to pay to use this website. All in all I really liked this website; it could be a fun activity for the students to use.

C4K April

Comments for Kids April 


     The blog I was assigned to was Jennifer, a middle school student from Vermont. Jennifer's first post I commented on was about her second favorite animal, a zebra. She talked about why she liked zebras; because they were cute and had cool stripes. I commented and said that I also liked zebras, but my favorite animal was a giraffe. I told her to keep up her love of animals.
     The second post I commented on was about her dancing. She said he loves to dance; she has been dancing for nine years! She loves tap, jazz and hip hop, but hip hop is her favorite. Jennifer says that she will be stopping dancing to become a cheerleader with her friends next year. I commented and told her that I was also a dancer, and danced for ten years. My situation was similar to hers; I stopped dancing to cheer. She commented back to me and asked me what all kinds of dancing I did and cheering. We struck up a conversation about me and how I was in college and my major. She seemed very interested in  college. She told me that she wanted to go to culinary school and open a restaurant.
     The last post I commented on was a opinion she had on pollution. She talks about how she does not understand why people do not just walk or ride a bike more places. She also discussed how she does not like the smoke that comes from the large busses or trucks. I commented and said that I completely agree with her about not liking the large amounts of smoke; it makes it hard to breath.
     I really enjoyed commenting on Jennifer's blog! She seems to be a great student and knows what she wants for the future.
                                           
 

Blog Post 11

Mrs. Cassidy's First Grade Class 

Mrs. Cassidy seems to be a great teacher! I love how she uses all of this technology in her first grade class. Technology seems to be a major part of her regular usage in the classroom. She not only uses it to get her students more technologically literate, but she uses it to help them learn to share and problem solve. If I had to pick one of her methods to use it would probably be the skype interviews. I think it is so neat how we can talk basically face to face with someone half way around the world from us. I would love to use skype to do interviews with specialist in a certain area we are studying, talk with different classes around the country that are learning the same things as my class and just to learn some interesting things that we would not already know. We might run into some problems with finding people that have the time to sit down and talk with the class, but I am sure there is someone out there that will take the time to talk to the class. Some benefits that I might obtain from using this method is helping my students become well diverse by letting them explore other peoples opinions on a certain subject by skyping with them. In general I think that this method helps students become a more well rounded student; the sooner you expose them to this, the better. 

http://gigaom.com/2011/05/10/microsoft-buying-skype/

Blog Post 10

Do You Teach or Do You Educate? 

    The video, Do you teach or do you educate?, really made me think. It made me think about how I will not just simply teach my students the required curriculum, but educate them to be better students and better people. As the video states being an educator is empowering the students; setting off the spark in them. I know I had many teachers that just simply taught me what they were suppose to teach me and had me go on my marry way to the next grade, but I also had teachers that truly inspired me to become a teacher and a better person. 

   I was thinking on why I wanted to become a teacher after watching this video, and I came to the conclusion  that I want to better the children  of the future. I could be the kind of teacher that simply teaches them the bare minimum, but I believe that students deserve more then that. I will try to be the best educator that I can be for my students. 

Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home 

   

     This post was pretty interesting. I had to re read it a few times and read some more post from him, but I finally got it. This post  goes way beyond just pencils; it is about creativity in and out of the classroom. The other teacher in the conversation does not get that it is not just about the pencils, but what they can create. As a future educator I strive to make my classroom a place where my students can be creative.